Transcript English - International Consortium on Governmental Financial

Auditing and Sustainable Development
Harvey L. Mead
Sustainable Development Commissioner
Quebec, Canada
Conference of the International Consortium
on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM)
“Joining Forces for Responsible Leadership to Enhance Good Governance:
The People, the Public Officials, the Private Sector and the Press”
Miami, Florida
May 23, 2008
Action on Development
I. Approaches in the international sphere
– MDGs
– Paris Declaration
– OECD follow-up
II. Quebec and a change of direction
– SD Act
– SD Strategy, Action Plans and Indicators
– SD Commissioner
III. Putting it all in the balance
2
I. An international challenge
 The Paris Declaration
– National development strategies and action plans
– Indicators
– Tools and approaches
 Five-year assessment of the MDGs
 OECD follow-up on strategic assessment
– International Association for Impact Assessment Award to
the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD
3
Paris Declaration 2005
 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness:
Ownership, Harmonisation, Alignment, Results
and Mutual Accountability
– Actions to reform the ways aid is delivered and managed
– Twelve indicators
– Mechanisms for accountability
 Preparing for the five-year review of the MDGs
4
Paris Declaration: Strategic assessment targeted
Promoting a harmonised approach to environmental
assessments
 40. This progress [by donors in harmonisation around
environmental impact assessment (EIA)] needs to be deepened,
including on addressing implications of global environmental
issues such as climate change, desertification and loss of
biodiversity.
 41. Donors and partner countries jointly commit to:
– Strengthen the application of EIAs and deepen common procedures for
projects, including consultations with stakeholders; and develop and
apply common approaches for “strategic environmental
assessment” at the sector and national levels.
5
Managing for results: strategies and indicators
 44. Partner countries commit to:
– Strengthen the linkages between national development strategies and
annual and multi-annual budget processes.
– Endeavour to establish results-oriented reporting and assessment
frameworks that monitor progress against key dimensions of the
national and sector development strategies; and that these frameworks
should track a manageable number of indicators for which data are costeffectively available (Indicator 11)
6
Indicator 9: Strategic assessment involved
 Indicator
– Use of common arrangements or procedures — Percent of
aid provided as programme-based approaches.
 Target
– 66% of aid flows are provided in the context of programmebased approaches.
7
OECD in 2004 and 2006
 Applying Strategic Environmental Assessment:
Good Practice Guidance for Development
Co-Operation
 Development Assistance Committee of the OECD
– Team on strategic environmental assessment set up in 2004
– Guide published in 2006
8
II. Donor countries also at work
 Quebec’s Sustainable Development Act (April, 2006)
– A change of course identified as necessary
• Recent development not sustainable
–
–
–
–
A set of principles in the Act
A Sustainable Development Strategy required by the Act
A set of indicators required by the Act
An action plan required by the Act on the part of all the
government entities (approximately 150)
9
The Act provides a definition of SD
Sustainable development refers to the activities carried out to
ensure human beings a healthy and productive life, which is in
harmony with nature and establishes an equity between
generations (current and future), by maintaining functional
ecosystems and the biodiversity for which they provide habitat,
while respecting the sociocultural heritage, the social fabric of
societies. These activities include the education and training of
the population with a view to its participation in the planning and
decision-making processes, including elements of an economic
nature. The processes in question are designed in such a way as
to clearly target the appropriate level of intervention and give
priority to dialogue and collaboration between all decisionmakers.
10
The Act identifies a set of SD tools
The carrying out of these activities must be based on the use of
tools making it possible to take into account the issues at stake
associated with the integration of human activities in the
framework provided by the biophysical environment and the
social fabric of individuals’ lives. These tools may include
strategic assessment, processes to evaluate and manage social
and environmental risks, several economic tools and the life
cycle approach. This latter approach provides a framework for
carrying out several evaluations, including energy assessments
and the calculation and integration of the costs associated with
externalities.
11
An independent auditor of SD
 Quebec’s Auditor General Act (revised, April 2006)
– Position of Sustainable Development Commissioner and
Assistant Auditor General
• Mandate to audit progress in sustainable development
• Requirement to report annually to the National Assembly
12
Observations of Quebec’s Sustainable
Development Commissioner - 2007
 The recognition of a situation of overshoot in relation to the planet’s support
capacity results in a feeling of urgency and justifies the change of direction
advocated by the Sustainable Development Act.
 It is important to know the international context of current development in
order to identify the appropriate interventions for the change of direction
that needs to be brought about.
 It is important to know the historical context of current development in
order to identify the appropriate interventions for the change of direction
that needs to be brought about.
 Sustainable development refers to everything associated with development,
including economic activities.
 Sustainable development is not a field that is reserved for specialists; it
concerns any person who, having recognized the situation of overshoot,
endeavours to take corrective action.
13
Observations of Quebec’s Sustainable
Development Commissioner - 2007
 All of the activities of the Administration aim to contribute to the
development of society.
 The principles set forth in the Sustainable Development Act provide a global
framework for interventions; the Act emphasizes:
– the objective of development, namely social progress: people are
entitled to a healthy and productive life, • and actions are undertaken
with a concern for intra- and inter-generational equity;
– the condition for development, namely respecting the support capacity
of ecosystems.
 Sustainable development is based on a long-term vision and consequently
requires long-term planning.
14
Observations of the Sustainable
Development Commissioner - 2007
 Development planning must use tools making it possible to integrate all of
the issues at stake.
 The characteristics of sustainable development suggest having recourse to
ecological economics to guide interventions.
 One of the first measures related to having recourse to ecological economics
consists in looking for synthetic indicators that complement the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).
 Auditing work must be carried out on the basis of the following elements:
synthetic indicators that complement the GDP, the principles of sustainable
development, as well as the tools developed for it.
 The auditing of the development processes undertaken by the
Administration entails the examination of certain priority issues, including
those associated with demography and energy.
15
Environment, economy, development
The characteristics of sustainable development suggest having recourse to
ecological economics to guide interventions.
ENVIRONNEMENT
Matières
ÉNERGIE
SOLAIRE
Matières
ÉCONOMIE
Énergie
CHALEUR
Énergie
16
Quebec Government SD Strategy
 Required by the Act
 Tabled in December 2007
 9 orientations and 29 objectives
 Audit results for 2007
– No formal targets, no indicators, no time-lines
– Government documents remedy in part these weaknesses
17
Action plans for implementation
 150 government entities subject to the Act’s
requirements
 Tabling of action plans required for 31 March 2009
 Challenges
– Follow standards for results-based management
– Relate in a monitorable way to the SD Strategy
– Work with or develop data with time series
18
Environment and Sustainable Development
Commissioner – Canada October 2007
After a decade, sustainable development strategies are a
major disappointment. For the most part, senior managers
in departments have not demonstrated that they take the
strategies seriously, and few parliamentary committees
have considered them.
The government has indicated that sustainable
development is a government-wide initiative, not just a
departmental one. Successive governments have committed
to producing a federal strategy for sustainable development
that would guide the efforts of individual departments and
clearly indicate what is expected of them. However, this has
not yet been done.
Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable
Development, Canada, October 2007
19
Environment and Sustainable Development
Commissioner – Canada March 2008
It will be important for the government to develop clear and
realistic overall objectives that are specific and measurable, with
targets and milestones, in order to ensure that its many
environmental challenges are addressed in a practical and
coordinated manner by departments and agencies. Once an
overall plan is in place, it needs to be brought to life by
establishing clear and realistic department objectives, strong
commitment at senior levels, clear direction, and adequate
funding.
Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable
Development, Canada, March 2008
20
Indicators of progress in SD
 Required by the Act
 To be tabled in 2008
 Challenges
– Respond to a coherent vision of SD
– Relate clearly to the SD Strategy
– Develop or organize data with time series
21
Action Plan of the Auditor General
 Identification of tools facilitating the application of
the principles of the Act:
– Life cycle analysis
– Strategic evaluation
– Risk assessment
 Targets set:
– 50% of audit missions in 2008 and 2009 will use these tools
22
Strategic Assessment
 Implicit but crucial in the Sustainable Development
Act
– The Act aims to better integrate the pursuit of SD into the
policies, programs and actions of the Administration, at all
levels and in all areas of intervention
– SD is based on a long-term approach
– The principles in the law and the government SD strategy
aim to ensure that government actions are coherent
– The principles of prevention and of precaution require a
comprehensive and long-term approach
23
Environment and Sustainable Development
Commissioner – Canada March 2008
Of particular concern is the poor performance by departments
and agencies in conducting strategic environmental assessments
when developing policy and program proposals. These
assessments are required when proposals that are submitted to
Cabinet have an environmental impact. Public reporting is
required whenever assessments are done. This is similar to the
situation we found last October when examining sustainable
development strategies where performance was also poor. Once
again, the lack of commitment at senior levels is a root cause of
these problems. Strategic environmental assessments and
sustainable development strategies need to be revitalized on a
priority basis in order to help the government … achieve sustainable
development over the longer term.
Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable
Development, Canada, March 2008
24
III. Putting things in context:
Studies by the SD Commissioner
 Objective: Measure the challenge involved in bringing
about a change of direction in Quebec’s development
 2007: Ecological Footprint of Quebec
– 1.8 global hectares available, 2.2 already required
– Quebec: 6 global hectares per person required
• (Canada: 7.6, Alberta 9, Nova Scotia 8)
– Three planets required for equitable development:
An indicator of the importance of the challenge
25
The obese planet
Living Planet Report, WWF, Zoological Society of London,
Global Footprint Network (2006)
26
Putting things in context:
Studies by the SD Commissioner
 Objective: Obtain a more complete picture of the
well-being associated with Quebec’s development
 2008: Genuine Progress Indicator
–
–
–
–
A necessary complement to the GDP
Following the OECD initiative “Beyond GDP”
An indicator of a new vision of development
A challenge to calculate
27
GDP and GPI
One of the first measures related to having recourse to ecological
economics consists in looking for synthetic indicators that
complement the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
28
Ecological Footprint
and Human Development Index
Canada
Living Planet Report, WWF, Zoological Society of London,
Global Footprint Network (2006)
29